{"id":120378,"date":"2014-05-10T03:13:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T09:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/utah-atv-protest-gathering-steam\/"},"modified":"2014-05-10T03:13:08","modified_gmt":"2014-05-10T09:13:08","slug":"utah-atv-protest-gathering-steam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/utah-atv-protest-gathering-steam\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah ATV protest gathering steam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"This
This photo, taken in November 2007, shows an all-terrain vehicle stile or ramp installed at the head of the ATV trail in Recapture Canyon, Utah.<\/span>Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A protest ride by all-terrain vehicle users set for Saturday in Recapture Canyon east of Blanding, Utah, is capturing national attention. Federal officials have warned that participants may be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

The canyon, about three miles east of Blanding\u2019s main drag, has been off-limits to motorized use since a Bureau of Land Management decree in September 2007. The BLM is in the process of considering San Juan County\u2019s application for a right of way for an ATV trail in the canyon.<\/p>\n

Phil Lyman, the San Juan County, Utah, county commissioner who is organizing the ride, said Thursday that earlier this week, he went into the canyon with federal archaeologists to scout areas where there are ancient Native American sites that should be avoided during the protest ride.<\/p>\n

He said he has \u201chuge respect\u201d for local BLM employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe frustration is Washington-style politics and policies that come down and affect us here in the West,\u201d Lyman said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

The issue has ballooned on the heels of the recent incident involving Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the BLM rounding up his cattle. In fact, Bundy\u2019s ranch is urging its Facebook followers to go to Blanding and protest the BLM\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

The BLM\u2019s canyon country district manager, Lance Porter, cautioned Lyman in an April 28 letter about possible violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly urge you to cancel the proposed ride in the closed portion of the canyon,\u201d Porter wrote. \u201cTo the extent that you or anyone else uses a motorized vehicle within the closed area, BLM will seek all appropriate civil and criminal penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge told the San Juan Record, based in Monticello, that his department will merely provide crowd control for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no idea on the number (of protestors),\u201d Eldredge told the Record for a Wednesday story. \u201cMy job is to keep the peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several national media members as well as regional TV and newspapers have said they plan to cover the event, Megan Crandall, BLM Utah spokeswoman, said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Crandall said the BLM has a couple of law-enforcement rangers in southeastern Utah, but wasn\u2019t certain if they will be at Saturday\u2019s gathering. She said the BLM will not be sending in \u201cre-enforcements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue came to a head in 2006 after an ATV trail \u2013 new or existing, depending on who\u2019s talking \u2013 was constructed or improved by a group of locals. Two Blanding men later were fined $35,000 for what the BLM considered damage to the area and to archaeological sites.<\/p>\n

Also in 2006, San Juan County applied to the BLM for a right of way for the ATV trail through Recapture Canyon.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Recapture Canyon was closed to motorized use. Then in 2008, the BLM instituted a major change that closed its lands to motorized use unless they were designated open. Before that, BLM lands were open unless designated closed.<\/p>\n

In December 2013, the BLM asked for public input on the county\u2019s right-of-way application. The comment deadline was Jan. 26. An environmental assessment is still being completed, BLM spokeswoman Crandall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protest is not about how long it\u2019s taking; it\u2019s about that the BLM is acting unilaterally without any involvement from the county,\u201d Lyman said. \u201cWhether or not there should be motorized traffic in Recapture Canyon, that\u2019s a good debate to have. That debate was never held.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Durango-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness, which has been vilified by some Blanding-area residents, supports the BLM closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are thousands of miles of motorized routes around Blanding,\u201d Great Old Broads Director Rose Chilcoat said Thursday.<\/p>\n

She said the canyon is \u201cincredibly rich archaeologically\u201d with \u201cliterally hundreds of sites in the canyon.\u201d She referred to it as a mini-Mesa Verde.<\/p>\n

She said the ATV route apparently built in 2005 was fresh and illegally constructed and went across archaeological sites. The BLM damage assessment from the ATV trail was estimated at $300,000.<\/p>\n

Lyman said the Recapture Canyon protest ride was planned well ahead of the Bundy incident. It\u2019s scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Blanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not on the level of a Bundy event,\u201d Lyman said. \u201cIf we have more than 1,000 (riders), I\u2019ll be surprised. If we have less than 100, I\u2019ll be surprised. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bundy Ranch Facebook site urged its followers to act: \u201cThe BLM are trying to stop this. All who can go out and support this please do!! We need to stick together and continue to make a stand!\u201d<\/p>\n

johnp@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

for Saturday in Blanding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13,70,195,121],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-120378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-news-lead","tag-u-s-bureau-of-land-management","tag-utah"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120378"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=120378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}